Gloria Cook 5 Books Collection Set (Leaving Shades, Reflections, Never Just a Memory, A Stranger Light, A Whisper of Life)

Gloria Cook 5 Books Collection Set brings together five novels set in Cornwall, following personal upheaval, family secrets and the long shadow of war. Across the collection, relationships are tested by estrangement, reconciliation and the return of people from the past, as characters confront painful truths and unexpected consequences.

The set includes stories centred on Beth Tresaile and her friend Kitty Copeland, alongside the Harvey family during and after the Second World War. From a return to Owles House after a tragic miscarriage, to wartime pressures in 1944 and the challenges of rebuilding in 1948, each book explores lives shaped by loss, loyalty and change.

Included titles

• Leaving Shades
• Reflections
• Never Just a Memory
• A Stranger Light
• A Whisper of Life

Key details

• Five-book collection set by Gloria Cook
• Includes Leaving Shades, Reflections, Never Just a Memory, A Stranger Light and A Whisper of Life
• Stories set in Cornwall, including Hennaford
• Time periods include 1944 and 1948, with post-war settings

Synopses

Leaving Shades

After a tragic miscarriage, Beth Tresaile returns to Owles House, the place of her unhappy childhood, with her best friend, Kitty Copeland. Determined to take revenge on her estranged mother, Christina, Beth begins to uncover that much of what she believed about her past was built on deception. As Kitty is captivated by Cornwall and Beth becomes involved with the locals, new trouble emerges when Beth’s married lover, Kitty’s brother, wants to return to her life.

Reflections

Beth Tresaile has been reconciled with her estranged mother for over a year and is looking forward to Kitty Copeland spending Christmas with them. Her plans are unsettled when Kitty asks for her brother, Stuart, to join them. Beth and Stuart were once lovers, and Beth fears Kitty discovering her secret, but Stuart’s arrival triggers events nobody expected.

Never Just a Memory

In 1944, war bears down on the Harvey family. Emilia, married to Perry Bosweld and expecting his child, worries about her son Will in the RAF, while Ben Harvey is shaken when confronted by the daughter he turned his back on. When Emilia and Ben exchange painful truths, Ben disappears as a Special Operative Executive behind enemy lines in France, and secrets from the past continue to overwhelm the family as lives are put in danger.

A Stranger Light

After the Second World War, Faye Harvey faces the stigma of being a single mother. Mark Fuller, badly affected by his POW experiences in the Far East, arrives in Cornwall to see three children under the guardianship of Faye and her uncle Tristan. As Mark, about to enter an amicable divorce, still needs nursing, Faye is drawn to him, but the father of her son, a Scottish laird, appears and offers marriage now his wife has died.

A Whisper of Life

In 1948, the village of Hennaford is struggling to recover from the war, and the Harvey family is still feeling its effects. Johnny Harvey is disillusioned, injured and disturbed by a changing society, while Jill Harvey, pregnant after four years of marriage, befriends sixteen-year-old Kate Viant, crippled with polio and abandoned by her family. Tess, left behind by society, may prove her worth when something threatens the life of Jill’s unborn child.